1 00:00:03,500 --> 00:00:05,820 Rome, the Eternal City. 2 00:00:07,100 --> 00:00:09,780 Today, it's a place dominated by Christianity. 3 00:00:11,260 --> 00:00:14,020 Its churches rule the skyline. 4 00:00:14,020 --> 00:00:17,140 Its faithful pack the streets. 5 00:00:17,140 --> 00:00:21,540 Every year, thousands upon thousands of pilgrims 6 00:00:21,540 --> 00:00:25,580 from across the world flock here to worship in the place 7 00:00:25,580 --> 00:00:29,540 that is truly the beating heart of the Catholic faith. 8 00:00:29,540 --> 00:00:35,060 For many, Rome's status as a holy city begins with Christianity. 9 00:00:35,060 --> 00:00:37,860 But in fact, its origin as a sacred site 10 00:00:37,860 --> 00:00:40,980 owes everything to its pre-Christian past. 11 00:00:43,500 --> 00:00:47,100 It was exotic pagan deities who were first credited 12 00:00:47,100 --> 00:00:50,140 with transforming a hillside village 13 00:00:50,140 --> 00:00:55,420 to the capital of the most powerful empire the world has ever known. 14 00:00:55,420 --> 00:00:59,420 These were the gods of thunder, love, war and wisdom, 15 00:00:59,420 --> 00:01:03,180 who dominated the city for a thousand years 16 00:01:03,180 --> 00:01:06,420 and held its fortune in their hands. 17 00:01:13,220 --> 00:01:17,220 The very ground Rome was built on was considered sacred, 18 00:01:17,220 --> 00:01:20,420 from its temples...to its sewers. 19 00:01:20,420 --> 00:01:25,300 You can smell putrefaction, the sweetness of waste. 20 00:01:25,300 --> 00:01:30,940 But it also stinks of history. It's a secret world lost in time. 21 00:01:32,140 --> 00:01:35,140 This is a city I've always been drawn to. 22 00:01:35,140 --> 00:01:36,420 And in this series, 23 00:01:36,420 --> 00:01:41,660 I'm going to be discovering just how it gained its tradition of holiness. 24 00:01:41,660 --> 00:01:45,740 I've come with the questions of both historian and tourist, 25 00:01:45,740 --> 00:01:48,060 to examine the fabric of a place 26 00:01:48,060 --> 00:01:50,900 where power and religion go hand in hand. 27 00:01:52,700 --> 00:01:54,780 Rome has always been inspired 28 00:01:54,780 --> 00:01:59,820 and shaped by its passionate sense of sacred mission. 29 00:01:59,820 --> 00:02:04,300 Popes and emperors, kings and consuls have all believed 30 00:02:04,300 --> 00:02:10,300 they served a higher purpose, to fulfil the will of the divine. 31 00:02:12,420 --> 00:02:16,540 And in this episode, I'm going right back to Rome's pagan roots, 32 00:02:17,700 --> 00:02:22,820 to a world of empires won and lost, holy ambitions fulfilled, 33 00:02:22,820 --> 00:02:28,700 a place where signs from heaven could change the course of history 34 00:02:28,700 --> 00:02:31,420 and men became gods. 35 00:02:31,420 --> 00:02:34,500 I want to find out just how this once-marshy wasteland 36 00:02:35,660 --> 00:02:38,540 became one of the world's holiest cities. 37 00:02:57,140 --> 00:03:01,500 Every July, Rome celebrates one of its favourite festivals. 38 00:03:03,500 --> 00:03:07,860 It's a Catholic celebration in which a statue of the Virgin Mary 39 00:03:07,860 --> 00:03:10,660 gets a tour of Rome along the River Tiber. 40 00:03:12,340 --> 00:03:13,780 And she's off. 41 00:03:20,660 --> 00:03:22,820 It's quite a bizarre sight, 42 00:03:22,820 --> 00:03:25,580 the mother of God, taking a ride on a motorboat. 43 00:03:26,980 --> 00:03:29,020 But it does sum up Rome today. 44 00:03:30,260 --> 00:03:34,060 Here, religious pageantry is the city's daily theatre, 45 00:03:34,060 --> 00:03:36,940 on the streets and on the water. 46 00:03:40,460 --> 00:03:43,660 Christianity rules the Holy City. 47 00:03:43,660 --> 00:03:47,980 But everywhere you look, paganism lurks just beneath the surface. 48 00:03:52,740 --> 00:03:56,980 Images of Mary on street corners were once pagan shrines 49 00:03:56,980 --> 00:03:59,260 devoted to the household gods. 50 00:04:00,860 --> 00:04:03,300 Ancient temples have been absorbed 51 00:04:03,300 --> 00:04:05,820 into the fabric of Christian churches. 52 00:04:07,740 --> 00:04:10,300 And the Pope has a pagan precedent. 53 00:04:10,300 --> 00:04:14,740 The ancient Romans had their own high priest, the Pontifex Maximus. 54 00:04:17,540 --> 00:04:21,380 Even this procession has echoes of the pagan world. 55 00:04:22,780 --> 00:04:27,780 In 205 BC, there are stories of the Magna Mater, 56 00:04:27,780 --> 00:04:30,820 a foreign goddess, being brought into Rome by boat 57 00:04:30,820 --> 00:04:33,020 right up this river, just like this, 58 00:04:33,020 --> 00:04:35,620 except it wouldn't have been motorboats. 59 00:04:35,620 --> 00:04:39,180 It would have been wooden boats. 60 00:04:39,180 --> 00:04:42,340 It wouldn't have been balloons, it would have been incense lamps. 61 00:04:42,340 --> 00:04:47,180 But the modern, Christian Rome of today, in many ways, 62 00:04:47,180 --> 00:04:48,980 is not so far removed 63 00:04:48,980 --> 00:04:53,220 from the ancient, pagan Rome of gods and emperors. 64 00:04:56,700 --> 00:05:00,140 And there's a clue to the origins of Rome's timeless sanctity 65 00:05:00,140 --> 00:05:02,620 in its founding myth. 66 00:05:06,940 --> 00:05:12,460 Every sacred city needs a creation story, and Rome is no different. 67 00:05:13,620 --> 00:05:16,900 It's a tale that defined the ancient Romans. 68 00:05:18,140 --> 00:05:22,060 And as a tourist, it's a legend you still can't escape. 69 00:05:23,220 --> 00:05:26,540 There are glimpses of it just about everywhere. 70 00:05:33,020 --> 00:05:35,860 And here it is, two children suckling a she-wolf. 71 00:05:35,860 --> 00:05:40,940 It's a timeless vision of human dreams and nightmares - 72 00:05:40,940 --> 00:05:44,340 lupine ferocity meets maternal nurture. 73 00:05:44,340 --> 00:05:49,500 But it sums up everything the Romans wanted to believe about themselves 74 00:05:49,500 --> 00:05:51,540 and their city's destiny. 75 00:05:52,940 --> 00:05:54,540 According to myth, 76 00:05:54,540 --> 00:05:57,460 Rome was founded in 753 BC 77 00:05:57,460 --> 00:06:01,940 by the twin brothers Romulus and Remus. 78 00:06:03,500 --> 00:06:07,780 Abandoned as babies, they were rescued by a she-wolf. 79 00:06:07,780 --> 00:06:11,260 And once adults, they decided to found a city. 80 00:06:12,340 --> 00:06:13,980 But it wasn't that simple. 81 00:06:13,980 --> 00:06:18,060 Being brothers, they soon fell out over where to build it. 82 00:06:18,060 --> 00:06:20,860 Romulus wanted to build it on the Palatine Hill. 83 00:06:20,860 --> 00:06:24,180 Remus wanted to build it on neighbouring Aventine Hill. 84 00:06:24,180 --> 00:06:27,900 And to make the right decision, they decided to consult the gods. 85 00:06:31,420 --> 00:06:36,300 Signs from heaven were sent to each brother in the form of vultures. 86 00:06:39,460 --> 00:06:42,700 Remus saw them first, six birds over the Aventine. 87 00:06:44,220 --> 00:06:46,100 But Romulus saw more, twelve. 88 00:06:49,060 --> 00:06:51,540 Each brother claimed the gods favoured him. 89 00:06:54,100 --> 00:06:56,980 It was a rivalry with fatal consequences. 90 00:06:58,020 --> 00:07:01,580 Romulus started to build walls around the Palatine 91 00:07:01,580 --> 00:07:04,140 to mark the boundaries of his new city. 92 00:07:04,140 --> 00:07:09,740 Remus mocked his brother by jumping over the half-built fortifications. 93 00:07:09,740 --> 00:07:14,660 It was a challenge, and Romulus answered it by killing his brother. 94 00:07:16,100 --> 00:07:17,500 The gods had spoken. 95 00:07:19,020 --> 00:07:22,500 It's a legend that reflects the Roman conviction 96 00:07:22,500 --> 00:07:26,340 that this was a city whose fate was divinely ordained. 97 00:07:28,020 --> 00:07:31,900 So the story of Rome begins, with religious omens 98 00:07:31,900 --> 00:07:34,380 and murderous ambition, power and religion - 99 00:07:35,380 --> 00:07:40,420 the essential ingredients of a holy city then, and now. 100 00:07:43,020 --> 00:07:44,900 Of course, the story is a legend. 101 00:07:46,860 --> 00:07:51,060 And the archaeology shows that Rome actually started as a patchwork 102 00:07:51,060 --> 00:07:55,300 of small farms on the seven hills overlooking the River Tiber. 103 00:07:56,540 --> 00:07:57,700 Between the hills, 104 00:07:57,700 --> 00:08:01,620 there were marshy valleys where the local people buried their dead. 105 00:08:01,620 --> 00:08:04,340 Some time in the eighth century BC, 106 00:08:04,340 --> 00:08:07,060 two villages that stood on the hills, 107 00:08:07,060 --> 00:08:11,340 the Palatine and the Quirinal, merged into one settlement. 108 00:08:12,780 --> 00:08:16,380 But there is one element in the Romulus and Remus story 109 00:08:16,380 --> 00:08:19,700 that does seem to have a basis in historical fact, 110 00:08:19,700 --> 00:08:22,740 and that is that right from the beginning, 111 00:08:22,740 --> 00:08:27,900 Rome was surrounded by a boundary that was of enormous importance. 112 00:08:27,900 --> 00:08:30,860 It marked Rome out as a sacred city. 113 00:08:34,980 --> 00:08:38,180 This boundary was known as the Pomerium, 114 00:08:38,180 --> 00:08:40,820 and Romans thought it originally followed 115 00:08:40,820 --> 00:08:43,580 the line ploughed by Romulus around the city. 116 00:08:44,660 --> 00:08:47,500 But it wasn't just about marking out territory. 117 00:08:47,500 --> 00:08:48,940 Much more significantly, 118 00:08:48,940 --> 00:08:53,820 the Romans believed the land within it enjoyed divine protection. 119 00:08:56,620 --> 00:08:59,660 This gateway, known as the Arch of Dolabella, 120 00:08:59,660 --> 00:09:02,140 was built on the line of the Pomerium. 121 00:09:03,140 --> 00:09:05,020 And to keep the gods happy, 122 00:09:05,020 --> 00:09:08,020 there were strict rules dictating behaviour 123 00:09:08,020 --> 00:09:10,220 within Rome's sacred confines. 124 00:09:12,100 --> 00:09:16,100 So on this side of the arch was outside the city, 125 00:09:16,100 --> 00:09:19,020 where the Romans believed you could bury your dead or make war. 126 00:09:19,020 --> 00:09:23,020 But as I walk through the archway, I enter Rome. 127 00:09:23,020 --> 00:09:26,500 Rome begins here, and everything is sacred. 128 00:09:26,500 --> 00:09:28,260 So if I was a soldier, for example, 129 00:09:28,260 --> 00:09:30,740 I would have to leave my arms outside the gate. 130 00:09:30,740 --> 00:09:33,540 Generals could not build military camps here. 131 00:09:33,540 --> 00:09:37,780 The Romans believed that to break these rules was sacrilege. 132 00:09:43,380 --> 00:09:47,060 And this idea of what is and isn't sacred space 133 00:09:47,060 --> 00:09:51,420 has influenced the way the entire city has been laid out. 134 00:09:53,860 --> 00:09:56,940 It's why one of the main thoroughfares into Rome, 135 00:09:56,940 --> 00:10:00,700 the Appian Way, is lined with tombs. 136 00:10:00,700 --> 00:10:03,340 But only up to a certain point. 137 00:10:04,700 --> 00:10:07,540 They stop the moment you enter the city itself. 138 00:10:09,220 --> 00:10:13,700 It's also why the tombs of the early Christians, the Catacombs, 139 00:10:13,700 --> 00:10:16,420 and on the outskirts and not in the centre. 140 00:10:18,060 --> 00:10:22,020 But the sacred space in Rome wasn't just what you saw around you, 141 00:10:22,020 --> 00:10:25,940 it also extended beneath your feet, right underground. 142 00:10:27,780 --> 00:10:33,660 Deep below the is one of its most secret and holy sites. 143 00:10:33,660 --> 00:10:35,740 It's a network of some sewers, 144 00:10:35,740 --> 00:10:40,060 but they weren't just to wash away the effluence of the Romans. 145 00:10:40,060 --> 00:10:44,500 Like everything else in this city, they also had a sacred purpose. 146 00:10:47,660 --> 00:10:51,980 They were said to be the brainchild of one of Rome's earliest rulers, 147 00:10:51,980 --> 00:10:55,660 Tarquinius Priscus, fifth monarch of the city, 148 00:10:55,660 --> 00:10:57,860 and one of a line of kings who ruled here. 149 00:10:59,780 --> 00:11:03,340 The entrance to the sewers is in the Forum of Nerva. 150 00:11:03,340 --> 00:11:06,340 It's here that I met up with Mark Bradley, 151 00:11:06,340 --> 00:11:09,100 for whom they are a personal passion. 152 00:11:10,300 --> 00:11:12,900 Truly an elegant look for la dolce vita. 153 00:11:14,580 --> 00:11:19,260 The sewers are still in use today, so precautions have to be taken. 154 00:11:19,260 --> 00:11:20,740 How do I look? 155 00:11:20,740 --> 00:11:25,980 I think we're ready to face the effluvia of the ancients. 156 00:11:27,980 --> 00:11:33,060 But I quickly realised that penetrating these faecal caverns 157 00:11:33,060 --> 00:11:34,860 wasn't going to be easy. 158 00:11:38,100 --> 00:11:41,140 No way! I don't think I can go down there. 159 00:11:41,140 --> 00:11:43,460 I hate to tell you this. I'm serious. 160 00:11:43,460 --> 00:11:45,580 Nobody's ever fallen down it. 161 00:11:47,340 --> 00:11:49,220 Don't like the look of it. 162 00:11:52,060 --> 00:11:55,820 Half an hour later, after a very 21st-century panic attack 163 00:11:55,820 --> 00:11:59,300 that would have shamed the noble Romans, 164 00:11:59,300 --> 00:12:02,740 I managed to face this terrifying abyss. 165 00:12:05,020 --> 00:12:08,420 And as I descended into this twilight canyon of filth, 166 00:12:08,420 --> 00:12:11,340 I could smell it before I could see it. 167 00:12:11,340 --> 00:12:14,100 What a place! Oh, my God! 168 00:12:14,100 --> 00:12:16,300 What is that? 169 00:12:19,660 --> 00:12:22,380 This is absolutely extraordinary down here. 170 00:12:22,380 --> 00:12:25,100 Yes, these are terribly, terribly important. 171 00:12:25,100 --> 00:12:29,260 This is the Cloaca Maxima, the great sewer, 172 00:12:29,260 --> 00:12:32,100 which is the oldest surviving intact monument in Rome. 173 00:12:32,100 --> 00:12:35,180 Forget all the temples, all the palaces, 174 00:12:35,180 --> 00:12:37,860 this is the real start of Rome. 175 00:12:37,860 --> 00:12:41,460 One of the main functions of these sewers originally was to drain 176 00:12:41,460 --> 00:12:45,100 the Forum, which was being periodically flooded by the Tiber. 177 00:12:45,100 --> 00:12:48,220 It's massive. You can sail a boat through here. 178 00:12:48,220 --> 00:12:51,780 And the Romans boasted about sailing boats through here. 179 00:12:51,780 --> 00:12:53,860 Come on, let's explore. 180 00:12:58,780 --> 00:13:02,780 This extraordinary sanitation system was built 181 00:13:02,780 --> 00:13:05,900 right back in the sixth century BC. 182 00:13:05,900 --> 00:13:09,140 And its tunnels stretch for miles and miles. 183 00:13:12,100 --> 00:13:17,060 For 2,500 years, right up until the 19th century, 184 00:13:17,060 --> 00:13:21,420 this was the only sewer system serving the whole of Rome. 185 00:13:23,060 --> 00:13:26,660 And the ancient Romans believed it purified the city, 186 00:13:26,660 --> 00:13:29,060 both practically and symbolically. 187 00:13:31,540 --> 00:13:34,260 So, Mark, why are these sewers sacred? 188 00:13:34,260 --> 00:13:39,540 Well, these sewers are sacred, in part, because they flush waste 189 00:13:39,540 --> 00:13:42,460 out of the city, they cleanse the city, they make it pure. 190 00:13:43,980 --> 00:13:46,900 And there are shrines marking particular points 191 00:13:46,900 --> 00:13:49,460 and junctions in the sewer. 192 00:13:52,060 --> 00:13:55,660 There is a very long-standing tradition in the history of Rome 193 00:13:55,660 --> 00:13:57,900 where unwanted elements of society - 194 00:13:57,900 --> 00:14:01,540 so criminals, deposed tyrants, even Christian martyrs - would be 195 00:14:03,540 --> 00:14:07,180 cast down here, symbolically, to be flushed out of the city. 196 00:14:07,180 --> 00:14:10,020 Which emperors were actually tossed down here? 197 00:14:10,020 --> 00:14:14,340 The one emperor who is very famous for this is the Emperor Elegabalus 198 00:14:14,340 --> 00:14:16,180 in the early third century AD, 199 00:14:16,180 --> 00:14:19,460 who was a depraved young emperor who made a complete mess of Rome. 200 00:14:19,460 --> 00:14:24,100 He was eventually assassinated, his body was dragged, really foully, 201 00:14:24,100 --> 00:14:27,420 through the sewers and evacuated outside the city. 202 00:14:31,420 --> 00:14:34,700 That's all that's left of one of the last people to be here. 203 00:14:34,700 --> 00:14:38,180 The Romans believed this purging of the city 204 00:14:38,180 --> 00:14:40,540 was key to its very survival. 205 00:14:41,940 --> 00:14:45,020 If Rome was pure, the gods would be happy. 206 00:14:45,020 --> 00:14:47,260 And the city's fortunes would be secure. 207 00:14:49,700 --> 00:14:52,740 I actually didn't think I'd be able to get down here, 208 00:14:52,740 --> 00:14:55,460 but I'm so pleased I did. I love it. 209 00:14:55,460 --> 00:15:00,260 The stones themselves speak, perhaps I should say stink, of history. 210 00:15:00,260 --> 00:15:03,940 However disgusting it is down here - and it really is disgusting - 211 00:15:03,940 --> 00:15:08,420 the walls, the liquid, the stink is appalling. 212 00:15:08,420 --> 00:15:10,740 It's sweet in its horror. 213 00:15:10,740 --> 00:15:14,740 And yet I have to tell you there is real grandeur down here 214 00:15:14,740 --> 00:15:18,220 and it is the sacred grandeur of ancient Rome. 215 00:15:27,500 --> 00:15:30,980 This splendid subterranean world has shown me 216 00:15:30,980 --> 00:15:35,900 that right from its inception, Rome was regarded as a holy city, 217 00:15:35,900 --> 00:15:39,260 above and even below the surface. 218 00:15:40,980 --> 00:15:44,780 Oh, my God! How lovely! Sunlight, air! 219 00:15:47,260 --> 00:15:50,420 Goodbye, ancient tunnels of Rome. 220 00:15:55,700 --> 00:15:58,620 The sewers are one of Rome's best-kept secrets. 221 00:16:01,420 --> 00:16:04,900 But they have an unexpected link to one of the city's 222 00:16:04,900 --> 00:16:08,740 most popular tourist destinations that might not please 223 00:16:08,740 --> 00:16:11,580 the thousands of people who come here. 224 00:16:14,180 --> 00:16:18,420 The famous Bocca della Verita, the mouth of truth, has been linked 225 00:16:18,420 --> 00:16:20,900 since Middle Ages to a tradition 226 00:16:20,900 --> 00:16:25,460 that if an unfaithful lover put his or her hand in the mouth, 227 00:16:25,460 --> 00:16:27,980 it would be bitten off. 228 00:16:27,980 --> 00:16:32,500 In Roman times, it wasn't a good idea to put your hand in that hole, 229 00:16:32,500 --> 00:16:34,900 whether you were faithful or not. 230 00:16:34,900 --> 00:16:37,700 This is in fact a monumental sewer cover, 231 00:16:37,700 --> 00:16:42,620 decorated with the face of Oceanus, God of the oceans. 232 00:16:42,620 --> 00:16:48,180 The risk was not so much from infidelity as from infection. 233 00:16:56,460 --> 00:17:01,740 The concept of Rome as a holy city was present from the beginning. 234 00:17:03,140 --> 00:17:06,500 And it not only shaped how the Romans designed their city, 235 00:17:06,500 --> 00:17:11,740 it also influenced every political decision its rulers made. 236 00:17:11,740 --> 00:17:14,740 The Romans were obsessed with the gods and their moods. 237 00:17:16,740 --> 00:17:20,620 And that governed how they behaved from dawn till dusk. 238 00:17:22,340 --> 00:17:27,020 Every soldier, every Caesar, believed he had a religious role. 239 00:17:27,020 --> 00:17:33,220 To commemorate the greatness of Rome was to celebrate its holy destiny. 240 00:17:33,220 --> 00:17:37,860 In this city, religion and politics were inseparable bedfellows. 241 00:17:42,660 --> 00:17:47,620 Nowhere is this marriage of sacred and secular more blatant than here. 242 00:17:49,420 --> 00:17:53,060 At the Forum, the heart of pagan Rome. 243 00:17:55,020 --> 00:17:59,860 It was first built in the sixth century BC as a civic centre 244 00:17:59,860 --> 00:18:03,180 after the sewers were established and the land drained. 245 00:18:03,180 --> 00:18:08,300 And for 1,000 years, it was the centre of Roman public life. 246 00:18:09,740 --> 00:18:14,500 Here, speeches were given, criminals were tried, laws were made. 247 00:18:14,500 --> 00:18:19,860 And temple after temple was raised to the glory of the gods of Rome. 248 00:18:23,580 --> 00:18:27,900 According to legend, this was home to another king of the city, 249 00:18:27,900 --> 00:18:32,380 whose influence shaped the earliest traditions of Roman life. 250 00:18:32,380 --> 00:18:35,140 His name was Numa Pompilius. 251 00:18:37,020 --> 00:18:40,060 The Romans believed that it was Numa who created 252 00:18:40,060 --> 00:18:45,740 the religious rituals and structures that made possible the rise of Rome. 253 00:18:45,740 --> 00:18:47,820 And he did it right here. 254 00:18:50,660 --> 00:18:54,020 When you visit the Forum for the first time, 255 00:18:54,020 --> 00:18:56,740 you're both dazzled and bewildered. 256 00:19:00,140 --> 00:19:04,380 It's a mishmash of architectural fragments from different ages. 257 00:19:06,740 --> 00:19:09,740 There are traces of temples built and rebuilt. 258 00:19:09,740 --> 00:19:13,380 Layer upon layer of Roman history. 259 00:19:14,700 --> 00:19:17,940 Much of what stand here today belongs to the time 260 00:19:17,940 --> 00:19:22,620 of the emperors, the last leaders to make their mark. 261 00:19:22,620 --> 00:19:26,140 But the origins of this site can be dated right back to 262 00:19:26,140 --> 00:19:28,140 the period of the Roman monarchy. 263 00:19:29,820 --> 00:19:33,980 King Numa was said to have established four colleges of priests, 264 00:19:33,980 --> 00:19:36,420 with very clear responsibilities. 265 00:19:36,420 --> 00:19:39,500 They were not just religious, they were also political. 266 00:19:39,500 --> 00:19:41,860 And without their say-so, 267 00:19:41,860 --> 00:19:46,140 the entire routine of Roman politics would grind to a halt. 268 00:19:46,140 --> 00:19:50,540 All buildings in the Forum, public or private, 269 00:19:50,540 --> 00:19:52,980 were dedicated to the gods. 270 00:19:52,980 --> 00:19:56,460 And all political decisions had to be made 271 00:19:56,460 --> 00:20:01,940 on sanctified ground - from holding elections to passing laws. 272 00:20:01,940 --> 00:20:05,780 So it was a group of priests known as the augurs 273 00:20:05,780 --> 00:20:09,460 who had the final say over planning decisions. 274 00:20:09,460 --> 00:20:11,260 This was the Senate house, 275 00:20:11,260 --> 00:20:15,180 but it was also something called a "templum", a sacred space. 276 00:20:15,180 --> 00:20:18,700 The augurs would consult the heavens to approve the site 277 00:20:18,700 --> 00:20:21,020 and then map it out with holy staffs. 278 00:20:21,020 --> 00:20:23,420 It was as if the Houses of Parliament 279 00:20:23,420 --> 00:20:25,500 stood on a sacred rectangle. 280 00:20:25,500 --> 00:20:29,340 And if the space wasn't sacred, the decisions weren't valid. 281 00:20:32,380 --> 00:20:35,620 At the opposite end of the forum was the Regia. 282 00:20:35,620 --> 00:20:37,540 It was the royal residence, 283 00:20:37,540 --> 00:20:40,180 originally thought to be the Palace of King Numa 284 00:20:40,180 --> 00:20:42,860 and the seat of secular power. 285 00:20:42,860 --> 00:20:46,780 But it was also the centre of religious control. 286 00:20:46,780 --> 00:20:51,060 This was once the headquarters of the Pontifex Maximus, 287 00:20:51,060 --> 00:20:55,060 the high priest, the supreme religious authority of Rome 288 00:20:55,060 --> 00:20:59,180 and Pontifex Maximus literally means "the greatest bridge-builder". 289 00:20:59,180 --> 00:21:01,820 He was the bridge between gods and men. 290 00:21:01,820 --> 00:21:06,300 He regulated the rituals of Roman life and the divine law 291 00:21:06,300 --> 00:21:09,740 and this gave him considerable political authority. 292 00:21:13,780 --> 00:21:17,220 But he was also a master of the Vestal Virgins 293 00:21:17,220 --> 00:21:20,300 and right next door to his headquarters 294 00:21:20,300 --> 00:21:22,700 was their house and temple. 295 00:21:24,340 --> 00:21:27,180 The Virgins were priestesses of Vesta, 296 00:21:27,180 --> 00:21:29,780 the goddess of the hearth and home, 297 00:21:29,780 --> 00:21:34,820 who had a special link to the fortunes of the entire city. 298 00:21:34,820 --> 00:21:37,780 The Vestal Virgins were chosen at the age of six 299 00:21:37,780 --> 00:21:40,420 for their moral and physical perfection. 300 00:21:40,420 --> 00:21:43,460 Their task was to tend the sacred flame 301 00:21:43,460 --> 00:21:46,300 of the sacred hearth of the city 302 00:21:46,300 --> 00:21:49,540 and the Romans believed that if the fire went out 303 00:21:49,540 --> 00:21:51,980 the city itself would fall. 304 00:21:55,780 --> 00:21:59,220 The whole forum was a place where religious practice 305 00:21:59,220 --> 00:22:03,700 ensured Rome's political decisions had divine backing. 306 00:22:10,180 --> 00:22:13,900 I've always been fascinated by the macabre rituals 307 00:22:13,900 --> 00:22:16,740 that really decided the destiny of Rome. 308 00:22:18,580 --> 00:22:21,260 So I asked Mark Bradley to give me an insight 309 00:22:21,260 --> 00:22:24,340 into the work of a priestly group who were involved 310 00:22:24,340 --> 00:22:28,500 in one of the gorier aspects of Roman politics - 311 00:22:28,500 --> 00:22:31,300 they were known as the haruspices, 312 00:22:31,300 --> 00:22:34,980 diviners from the Etruscan communities of northern Italy, 313 00:22:34,980 --> 00:22:38,340 skilled in interpreting signs from the gods. 314 00:22:39,500 --> 00:22:42,980 And there's a reason we're meeting in a fresh food market. 315 00:22:44,860 --> 00:22:50,580 So, Mark, what is this still-warm, almost pulsating bloody organ 316 00:22:50,580 --> 00:22:53,140 that we have here on the platter in this butcher's shop? 317 00:22:53,140 --> 00:22:58,060 Well, this is a fresh liver taken from a newly sacrificed sheep. 318 00:22:58,060 --> 00:23:01,180 What the priests would do is they'd cut open the animal 319 00:23:01,180 --> 00:23:04,260 and they'd take out the liver while it was still pulsating 320 00:23:04,260 --> 00:23:08,420 and they'd examine it to see what the future has in store. 321 00:23:08,420 --> 00:23:12,740 So the first thing we need to do is orientate it correctly. 322 00:23:12,740 --> 00:23:17,740 What the haruspices did is they used a model of the liver 323 00:23:17,740 --> 00:23:21,580 to guide them, to remind them, to prompt them about how to read it, 324 00:23:21,580 --> 00:23:25,020 so what we have here is a bronze model of a liver 325 00:23:25,020 --> 00:23:29,820 from about 100 BC and this is called the Piacenza Liver, 326 00:23:29,820 --> 00:23:34,860 and on this you can see the gall bladder, the caudal lobe, 327 00:23:34,860 --> 00:23:38,340 and the liver was divided into 16 sections 328 00:23:38,340 --> 00:23:42,740 and these 16 sections corresponded to the 16 regions of heaven 329 00:23:42,740 --> 00:23:47,420 and each region was governed over by a particular god. 330 00:23:47,420 --> 00:23:51,300 So what we'll do is we'll have a look at this liver and see what it tellsus. 331 00:23:51,300 --> 00:23:55,740 So this area here, around where the gall bladder was, 332 00:23:55,740 --> 00:23:58,860 is an area governed by war gods 333 00:23:58,860 --> 00:24:05,580 and if you find a discolouration, a tumour, a blood clot, 334 00:24:05,580 --> 00:24:08,300 a bile pool or something like that in this area, 335 00:24:08,300 --> 00:24:10,940 that might mean that the war gods are not happy, 336 00:24:10,940 --> 00:24:14,180 this might not be a good time to go to war. 337 00:24:14,180 --> 00:24:17,420 Another area that's very interesting is all of this area 338 00:24:17,420 --> 00:24:20,900 which is associated with the Etruscan god Tin, 339 00:24:20,900 --> 00:24:23,740 who is the equivalent of Jupiter in Roman cult. 340 00:24:23,740 --> 00:24:26,700 If he's not happy you need to make a sacrifice to him 341 00:24:26,700 --> 00:24:30,220 or you need to build a temple to him or something like that. 342 00:24:30,220 --> 00:24:33,300 OK, so if I'm an emperor, my legions are massed 343 00:24:33,300 --> 00:24:37,820 and I now want to invade Germany today and destroy the German tribes, 344 00:24:37,820 --> 00:24:40,220 can I march today? Can you read the organ? 345 00:24:40,220 --> 00:24:42,820 Well, this liver is remarkably clean. 346 00:24:42,820 --> 00:24:46,180 This is absolutely unblemished, as far as I can see. 347 00:24:46,180 --> 00:24:48,980 This is a good time to do pretty much anything. 348 00:24:48,980 --> 00:24:52,780 I'm happy, call in the centurions - we march today. Absolutely. 349 00:24:55,220 --> 00:24:59,300 If religion was an essential part of a politician's life, 350 00:24:59,300 --> 00:25:02,940 for your ordinary Roman there was barely a beat in the day 351 00:25:02,940 --> 00:25:05,060 that wasn't overseen by a god. 352 00:25:05,060 --> 00:25:06,620 Buon giorno. 353 00:25:08,940 --> 00:25:10,820 For the average Roman farmer, 354 00:25:10,820 --> 00:25:14,100 it wasn't just about sowing, ploughing and reaping. 355 00:25:14,100 --> 00:25:17,920 To get a bumper harvest they had to keep the gods happy, too. 356 00:25:21,580 --> 00:25:24,060 In April there was the Festival of Cerialia 357 00:25:24,060 --> 00:25:26,780 dedicated to the goddess of grain, 358 00:25:26,780 --> 00:25:30,260 which involved heading out to the Circus Maximus in the evening 359 00:25:30,260 --> 00:25:34,820 to watch foxes with torches tied to their tails. 360 00:25:34,820 --> 00:25:39,700 This, apparently, protected the crops from vermin. 361 00:25:39,700 --> 00:25:44,540 And then there was the Festival to the god Robigus who governed mildew. 362 00:25:44,540 --> 00:25:48,820 To avoid an outbreak, farmers had to sacrifice a dog. 363 00:25:48,820 --> 00:25:51,900 And in October, to thank Mars for the harvest, 364 00:25:51,900 --> 00:25:54,580 it was a horse that got the chop. 365 00:25:58,980 --> 00:26:02,900 And private rituals were as important as public festivals. 366 00:26:02,900 --> 00:26:07,220 Families prayed daily to the household gods, the Lares, 367 00:26:07,220 --> 00:26:10,540 whose statues they kept at home in special niches. 368 00:26:10,540 --> 00:26:14,380 And they gathered for ceremonies in the fields to offer sacrifices, 369 00:26:14,380 --> 00:26:17,980 ensuring the crops would ripen. 370 00:26:17,980 --> 00:26:21,900 In fact, the Roman farmer had so many religious obligations 371 00:26:21,900 --> 00:26:24,900 it's a wonder he had any time to tend his crops. 372 00:26:32,740 --> 00:26:36,980 The religious structures and practices said to have been established by King Numa 373 00:26:36,980 --> 00:26:39,940 largely formed the basis of Roman religion 374 00:26:39,940 --> 00:26:42,700 for the entire first millennium of Rome. 375 00:26:43,820 --> 00:26:46,100 But in 509 BC a political crisis broke out. 376 00:26:48,820 --> 00:26:52,700 A group of aristocrats rebelled against the king, Tarquin the Proud. 377 00:26:54,100 --> 00:26:58,300 They overthrew him and established a new political system. 378 00:26:58,300 --> 00:27:02,380 Rome would no longer be ruled by one man but by the Senate, 379 00:27:02,380 --> 00:27:04,940 an assembly of its leading citizens. 380 00:27:04,940 --> 00:27:07,580 The Roman Republic was born. 381 00:27:10,140 --> 00:27:12,580 But whatever ideas drove the change, 382 00:27:12,580 --> 00:27:15,740 religion remained at the heart of the new regime. 383 00:27:17,180 --> 00:27:21,980 Indeed, the more successful Rome became, the more sacred the city. 384 00:27:31,100 --> 00:27:34,260 The dawn of the Republic was marked by an event 385 00:27:34,260 --> 00:27:37,900 that would have seen the whole of Rome celebrating on the streets. 386 00:27:39,900 --> 00:27:41,900 It was the dedication ceremony 387 00:27:41,900 --> 00:27:46,700 of a building that once stood here on the Capitoline Hill. 388 00:27:46,700 --> 00:27:50,980 The single most important temple ever erected in Rome. 389 00:27:52,620 --> 00:27:57,060 On 13 September 509 BC, 390 00:27:57,060 --> 00:28:00,660 this spot above the forum would have been packed with people. 391 00:28:02,220 --> 00:28:05,380 And what an awesome spectacle it would have been. 392 00:28:05,380 --> 00:28:09,900 They were there for the dedication of the vast new temple of Jupiter, 393 00:28:09,900 --> 00:28:15,340 Optimus Maximus, the biggest and brightest of the Roman gods. 394 00:28:15,340 --> 00:28:17,700 There was an altar outside for sacrifices 395 00:28:17,700 --> 00:28:19,420 and the doors were always open 396 00:28:19,420 --> 00:28:24,300 so passers-by could see the huge and gaudy statues of the gods within. 397 00:28:25,300 --> 00:28:27,660 For a Roman who was there that day 398 00:28:27,660 --> 00:28:31,700 it would have been as magnificent as it was unforgettable. 399 00:28:34,460 --> 00:28:38,660 The entire ceremony was designed to remind the Roman people 400 00:28:38,660 --> 00:28:42,100 that the god Jupiter was the source of Roman glory. 401 00:28:43,540 --> 00:28:45,140 And for the new Republic, 402 00:28:45,140 --> 00:28:49,180 this building marked a dramatic moment in the city's history. 403 00:28:51,100 --> 00:28:53,260 This was the opening ceremony 404 00:28:53,260 --> 00:28:56,380 of the first pagan cathedral of republican Rome. 405 00:28:59,980 --> 00:29:02,340 The only surviving sections of the temple 406 00:29:02,340 --> 00:29:06,620 are now in the Capitoline Museum in their original position. 407 00:29:08,460 --> 00:29:11,180 Matthew Nicholls believes it is a building 408 00:29:11,180 --> 00:29:14,740 that encapsulates the sacred ambitions of this new regime. 409 00:29:16,020 --> 00:29:18,100 What we're looking at here, Simon, 410 00:29:18,100 --> 00:29:21,540 is a wall that forms part of the foundations of the Temple of Jupiter. 411 00:29:21,540 --> 00:29:24,100 It's not the temple itself, it merely the foundations 412 00:29:24,100 --> 00:29:26,540 that built a huge platform on which the temple sat. 413 00:29:26,540 --> 00:29:29,620 And how big was it? It was enormous. It was awe-inspiringly huge. 414 00:29:29,620 --> 00:29:32,300 You've got to imagine a podium that was perhaps the size 415 00:29:32,300 --> 00:29:34,500 of two Olympic swimming pools side-by-side 416 00:29:34,500 --> 00:29:36,620 with the temple itself sitting up on top of that. 417 00:29:36,620 --> 00:29:39,340 So this dominated central Rome? This dominated the forum? 418 00:29:39,340 --> 00:29:40,820 It looked down on the forum, 419 00:29:40,820 --> 00:29:43,260 it looked out across the hills and valleys of Rome. 420 00:29:43,260 --> 00:29:46,460 It could be seen from a long way away and it was a magnificent sight. 421 00:29:46,460 --> 00:29:49,940 Who built it and what was its political significance? 422 00:29:49,940 --> 00:29:52,220 Its significance is really what it tells us 423 00:29:52,220 --> 00:29:54,340 about the ambitions of the Roman state. 424 00:29:54,340 --> 00:29:56,540 It was linked right from the start to conquest 425 00:29:56,540 --> 00:29:59,420 and the divine mission of conquest the Romans felt they had. 426 00:29:59,420 --> 00:30:02,460 But even though we associate this temple very closely 427 00:30:02,460 --> 00:30:05,140 with the Roman Republic and the many rituals of the Republic, 428 00:30:05,140 --> 00:30:07,420 in fact it was planned, it was conceived, 429 00:30:07,420 --> 00:30:09,980 when Rome had kings, was ruled by Etruscan kings, 430 00:30:09,980 --> 00:30:12,300 and the last of them, Tarquinius Superbus, 431 00:30:12,300 --> 00:30:15,740 was responsible for almost bringing this temple to fruition, 432 00:30:15,740 --> 00:30:18,540 and then his rule was blown away in the revolution. 433 00:30:18,540 --> 00:30:23,100 So why did the Republic adopt this very royal enterprise? 434 00:30:23,100 --> 00:30:26,140 Romans loved the idea that their rule and their growing empire 435 00:30:26,140 --> 00:30:29,060 was sanctioned by the will of heaven, that this was a mission 436 00:30:29,060 --> 00:30:31,180 that the gods entrusted to them as a people. 437 00:30:31,180 --> 00:30:35,180 Even when the kings were gone, the Roman people could carry that mission forwards. 438 00:30:38,020 --> 00:30:39,940 The building of this temple 439 00:30:39,940 --> 00:30:43,380 marked a watershed in the history of the whole city. 440 00:30:43,380 --> 00:30:46,060 It was the moment when Rome transformed 441 00:30:46,060 --> 00:30:49,940 from being a town of small-scale temples and shrines 442 00:30:49,940 --> 00:30:54,580 to a sacred capital embellished with its own cathedral. 443 00:30:58,020 --> 00:31:00,700 The Temple of Jupiter was a declaration 444 00:31:00,700 --> 00:31:05,940 of the astonishing religious and political confidence of Rome, 445 00:31:05,940 --> 00:31:10,940 a rising power blessed and propelled on its sacred destiny 446 00:31:10,940 --> 00:31:12,980 by the forces of the gods. 447 00:31:17,180 --> 00:31:22,660 And that power was consolidated by the raising of ever-more temples. 448 00:31:22,660 --> 00:31:26,700 Their remains can still be seen all over Rome. 449 00:31:28,100 --> 00:31:30,540 As the Romans conquered new territories, 450 00:31:30,540 --> 00:31:33,140 the spoils of victory poured into the city 451 00:31:33,140 --> 00:31:36,820 and since the Romans attributed their success to the gods, 452 00:31:36,820 --> 00:31:40,900 so the victors built more and more magnificent temples 453 00:31:40,900 --> 00:31:43,220 in gratitude and in celebration. 454 00:31:45,580 --> 00:31:48,100 Gradually the geography of the Holy City 455 00:31:48,100 --> 00:31:52,740 began to resemble a map of Rome's ever-increasing empire. 456 00:31:56,260 --> 00:32:00,420 And nowhere was Rome's acknowledgement of the gods clearer 457 00:32:00,420 --> 00:32:04,700 than in one of the city's most colourful military ceremonies. 458 00:32:06,340 --> 00:32:08,660 When a general returned from a victorious war, 459 00:32:08,660 --> 00:32:12,340 the Senate voted him something called a Triumph, a parade through the city. 460 00:32:12,340 --> 00:32:15,420 He rode in his chariot followed by his army, 461 00:32:15,420 --> 00:32:17,820 by wagons heaped with booty 462 00:32:17,820 --> 00:32:19,940 and by his shackled prisoners 463 00:32:19,940 --> 00:32:24,060 and he ended up right here at the Via Sacra, the Sacred Way, 464 00:32:24,060 --> 00:32:27,180 the most important street in the Roman forum. 465 00:32:29,620 --> 00:32:31,580 Imagine the excitement. 466 00:32:31,580 --> 00:32:36,660 The general wearing purple and gold, his face painted scarlet. 467 00:32:36,660 --> 00:32:39,060 He was dressed as Jupiter for a day, 468 00:32:39,060 --> 00:32:41,420 but in case the glory went to his head, 469 00:32:41,420 --> 00:32:45,420 a slave rode behind him in his chariot whispering, 470 00:32:45,420 --> 00:32:48,580 "Remember - you are only mortal." 471 00:32:50,620 --> 00:32:53,140 His procession ended, of course, 472 00:32:53,140 --> 00:32:56,100 at the Capitol and the Temple of Jupiter 473 00:32:56,100 --> 00:32:59,980 where he laid laurels at the feet of the giant statues of the gods. 474 00:33:02,340 --> 00:33:06,740 At that moment there'd be no doubt in any Roman's mind 475 00:33:06,740 --> 00:33:10,660 that the gods were responsible for the city's fortunes. 476 00:33:16,340 --> 00:33:19,700 But the success of the Republic came at a price. 477 00:33:19,700 --> 00:33:22,740 It was the purity of Rome's religion that suffered. 478 00:33:25,340 --> 00:33:28,780 The city's expansion into a vast empire 479 00:33:28,780 --> 00:33:33,460 led to an influx of foreigners from Greece to Egypt. 480 00:33:33,460 --> 00:33:36,020 And with them came their gods. 481 00:33:37,700 --> 00:33:41,180 Rome's senators could have suppressed these new divinities 482 00:33:41,180 --> 00:33:43,740 and stayed faithful to their own, 483 00:33:43,740 --> 00:33:46,900 but they took a more pragmatic approach. 484 00:33:48,180 --> 00:33:51,140 Foreign gods, like Isis and Serapis, 485 00:33:51,140 --> 00:33:55,460 were absorbed into the state religion and in the third century BC 486 00:33:55,460 --> 00:33:59,220 one was even imported to try and avert disaster. 487 00:34:04,300 --> 00:34:10,180 In 205 BC, Rome faced one of its gravest crises. 488 00:34:10,180 --> 00:34:13,900 For almost a century, the city was engaged in a power struggle 489 00:34:13,900 --> 00:34:15,860 for control of the Mediterranean. 490 00:34:17,500 --> 00:34:21,180 Its enemy was Carthage, led by the brilliant commander Hannibal. 491 00:34:24,820 --> 00:34:27,620 And it was a threat that led to the introduction 492 00:34:27,620 --> 00:34:31,860 of one of the most flamboyant and exotic new goddesses to the city - 493 00:34:31,860 --> 00:34:33,620 just in the nick of time. 494 00:34:35,380 --> 00:34:38,940 Rome's very existence was in peril. 495 00:34:38,940 --> 00:34:43,900 Strange portents and mysterious hailstone storms threatened danger 496 00:34:43,900 --> 00:34:48,260 and in their panic the Romans decide to consult the Sibylline Books, 497 00:34:48,260 --> 00:34:52,020 sacred texts kept in the great Temple of Jupiter. 498 00:34:52,020 --> 00:34:54,020 Their advice was clear - 499 00:34:54,020 --> 00:34:57,260 in order to avoid defeat by Hannibal and the Carthaginians, 500 00:34:57,260 --> 00:35:01,780 the Romans must import a foreign goddess from Asia Minor. 501 00:35:01,780 --> 00:35:05,660 Her name was Magna Mater, the great mother, 502 00:35:05,660 --> 00:35:07,580 and her arrival in the city 503 00:35:07,580 --> 00:35:10,780 and her acceptance as one of its official gods - 504 00:35:10,780 --> 00:35:13,700 that alone would help save Rome. 505 00:35:26,380 --> 00:35:29,980 The Roman historian Livy wrote a vivid description 506 00:35:29,980 --> 00:35:31,820 of her arrival in the city. 507 00:35:33,740 --> 00:35:36,340 The goddess was shipped up the Tiber 508 00:35:36,340 --> 00:35:40,580 accompanied by her cult officials known as the Galli - 509 00:35:40,580 --> 00:35:44,300 self-castrated eunuch priests. 510 00:35:48,300 --> 00:35:50,700 And when she arrived at the river's bank 511 00:35:50,700 --> 00:35:53,820 she was born through the city, passed from hand to hand. 512 00:35:57,580 --> 00:35:59,780 The whole of Rome came out to meet her. 513 00:35:59,780 --> 00:36:03,060 Incense burners lined the streets 514 00:36:03,060 --> 00:36:07,060 and all the Romans prayed that she would enter the city willingly. 515 00:36:14,500 --> 00:36:19,100 It seems Rome hasn't changed as much as you might think. 516 00:36:19,100 --> 00:36:21,180 LOUDSPEAKER CHANTS 517 00:36:31,180 --> 00:36:33,180 Shortly after her arrival, 518 00:36:33,180 --> 00:36:37,420 Magna Mater was given a home at the very centre of the city - 519 00:36:37,420 --> 00:36:40,180 a temple on the Palatine Hill - 520 00:36:40,180 --> 00:36:44,180 and her rituals were incorporated into the official calendar. 521 00:36:47,180 --> 00:36:50,860 Three years later, Hannibal was defeated. 522 00:36:54,180 --> 00:36:58,340 The story of Magna Mater shows how far Rome had come. 523 00:36:58,340 --> 00:37:03,180 It transformed from sacred village to a holy city 524 00:37:03,180 --> 00:37:07,900 dedicated to a multinational pantheon of deities. 525 00:37:12,900 --> 00:37:17,660 But in the first century BC, 700 years after its foundation, 526 00:37:17,660 --> 00:37:20,500 the whole city was to become a shrine 527 00:37:20,500 --> 00:37:23,900 not just to the gods, but to a man. 528 00:37:23,900 --> 00:37:26,180 And one man in particular. 529 00:37:27,260 --> 00:37:29,980 It was an innovation that had its roots 530 00:37:29,980 --> 00:37:33,940 in the rule of one of Rome's most outstanding leaders... 531 00:37:35,100 --> 00:37:37,300 ..Julius Caesar. 532 00:37:39,660 --> 00:37:43,180 Caesar's rise to power came at a time when violence, 533 00:37:43,180 --> 00:37:47,820 cynicism and corruption had taken hold of the Holy City. 534 00:37:47,820 --> 00:37:53,060 As the empire grew, the struggle for control became more and more vicious 535 00:37:53,060 --> 00:37:56,060 and religion was ripe for exploitation. 536 00:37:57,580 --> 00:38:01,660 Portents from heaven were interpreted to justify decisions. 537 00:38:01,660 --> 00:38:06,420 Omens and oracles were invented for political advantage. 538 00:38:08,860 --> 00:38:12,060 And in this world, one man stood out. 539 00:38:14,540 --> 00:38:17,060 Caesar was so exceptional, 540 00:38:17,060 --> 00:38:20,540 the Roman state was almost too small for him. 541 00:38:20,540 --> 00:38:23,660 Nicknamed by his own soldiers "The Balding Adulterer", 542 00:38:24,660 --> 00:38:26,940 he was a gambler, a risk-taker, 543 00:38:26,940 --> 00:38:30,180 and he was an arch manipulator of religion 544 00:38:30,180 --> 00:38:32,380 for his own political ends. 545 00:38:32,380 --> 00:38:36,700 He even claimed to be descended from the goddess Venus herself. 546 00:38:39,540 --> 00:38:45,060 But his success provoked the jealousy and suspicion of the other nobles 547 00:38:45,060 --> 00:38:47,220 with deadly consequences. 548 00:38:52,860 --> 00:38:55,940 This little-known square is the closest you can get 549 00:38:55,940 --> 00:38:58,700 to the spot where Caesar was murdered. 550 00:39:00,020 --> 00:39:03,780 In the first century BC, these ruins were temples. 551 00:39:05,300 --> 00:39:10,740 And on the Ides of March 44 BC, Caesar was passing here 552 00:39:10,740 --> 00:39:13,380 when he was stabbed by a group of conspirators. 553 00:39:14,700 --> 00:39:17,100 At first he fought back, 554 00:39:17,100 --> 00:39:20,060 but when he saw among the assassins was Brutus, 555 00:39:20,060 --> 00:39:23,580 his mistress's son whom he adored, he gave up. 556 00:39:25,020 --> 00:39:27,900 His murder was meant to save the Republic, 557 00:39:27,900 --> 00:39:32,140 but in fact it just accelerated the end of the dream. 558 00:39:34,700 --> 00:39:36,620 With Caesar's successors, 559 00:39:36,620 --> 00:39:40,780 Rome would no longer be ruled by the Senate as a republic 560 00:39:40,780 --> 00:39:44,900 but by a single ruler as an autocracy. 561 00:39:44,900 --> 00:39:49,180 And with this new political order came an innovation in Roman religion 562 00:39:49,180 --> 00:39:54,700 which would once again have a huge physical impact on the Holy City 563 00:39:54,700 --> 00:39:58,020 and on the daily lives of the ordinary people who lived here. 564 00:39:59,900 --> 00:40:01,460 The Emperor wouldn't just be 565 00:40:01,460 --> 00:40:04,420 the most powerful political leader in the western world - 566 00:40:04,420 --> 00:40:07,980 he was about to become the son of a god. 567 00:40:16,060 --> 00:40:22,060 Caesar's heir was his 18-year-old nephew, and adopted son, Octavian, 568 00:40:22,060 --> 00:40:25,780 a brilliant political strategist, who combined the old and the new 569 00:40:27,300 --> 00:40:29,820 to give Roman leaders a new status. 570 00:40:29,820 --> 00:40:32,660 They were no longer just generals and priests - 571 00:40:32,660 --> 00:40:34,740 they could also be gods. 572 00:40:37,940 --> 00:40:40,660 After Caesar's death, Rome was thrown into chaos 573 00:40:42,740 --> 00:40:45,180 and a fight for power ripped the city apart. 574 00:40:51,380 --> 00:40:56,020 Octavian found himself in a bitter struggle to rule the Empire 575 00:40:56,020 --> 00:40:59,460 against Caesar's right-hand man, Mark Antony. 576 00:41:02,060 --> 00:41:05,340 Mark Antony allied himself with the irresistibly vampish 577 00:41:06,780 --> 00:41:10,420 and hugely ambitious Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra. 578 00:41:11,660 --> 00:41:16,940 Together, they embraced an Eastern version of power and religion. 579 00:41:16,940 --> 00:41:21,620 But Octavian cleverly used this to turn the Romans against them. 580 00:41:23,020 --> 00:41:27,300 Antony and Cleopatra were defeated in battle and committed suicide. 581 00:41:27,300 --> 00:41:30,140 He by sword, she by snake. 582 00:41:30,140 --> 00:41:33,700 And Octavian became Rome's first emperor. 583 00:41:38,460 --> 00:41:42,540 Octavian's victory marked a crucial turning point in Rome's history. 584 00:41:43,940 --> 00:41:46,940 Under his regime, it became the most magnificent 585 00:41:46,940 --> 00:41:49,460 and sacred capital of the Western world. 586 00:41:51,300 --> 00:41:54,740 Romans began to call it "the eternal city". 587 00:41:56,780 --> 00:42:02,020 And Octavian had similarly grand ideas about his own status. 588 00:42:02,020 --> 00:42:04,780 When Octavian became emperor, 589 00:42:04,780 --> 00:42:09,940 he adopted a new name for his new role - Augustus Caesar. 590 00:42:09,940 --> 00:42:13,300 Augustus means "consecrated by the augurs". 591 00:42:13,300 --> 00:42:16,060 It was a name that evoked the favour of the gods 592 00:42:16,060 --> 00:42:19,300 and the auspices that marked the founding of Rome. 593 00:42:26,460 --> 00:42:32,700 The name Caesar also linked Augustus to his murdered uncle, Julius. 594 00:42:32,700 --> 00:42:36,780 And very early on, he had a temple built here, in the Forum, 595 00:42:36,780 --> 00:42:38,500 in his uncle's honour. 596 00:42:39,780 --> 00:42:41,940 It doesn't look like much now, 597 00:42:41,940 --> 00:42:46,140 but this once dominated the entire south side of the Forum. 598 00:42:46,140 --> 00:42:49,980 Before it was built, this was where they brought Julius Caesar's body 599 00:42:49,980 --> 00:42:51,700 after his assassination. 600 00:42:51,700 --> 00:42:55,860 And it was here that they cremated him before huge crowds. 601 00:42:55,860 --> 00:43:00,260 The temple marks a major change in Roman religion. 602 00:43:00,260 --> 00:43:03,820 This is when they started to treat their rulers not as men, 603 00:43:03,820 --> 00:43:05,420 but as gods. 604 00:43:07,420 --> 00:43:13,140 On 1 January 42 BC, the Senate passed an unprecedented decree. 605 00:43:14,220 --> 00:43:16,980 They declared Julius Caesar divine. 606 00:43:18,100 --> 00:43:23,420 It made him the first historical Roman ever to be officially deified. 607 00:43:23,420 --> 00:43:30,220 With a temple and priests, this mere mortal had now become a god. 608 00:43:30,220 --> 00:43:34,380 And if Julius Caesar was a god, then his adopted son, Augustus, 609 00:43:34,380 --> 00:43:39,900 had a new title - Divi Filius, son of a god. 610 00:43:49,100 --> 00:43:54,780 But Augustus's desire for divinity wasn't satisfied by a title alone. 611 00:43:54,780 --> 00:43:58,980 He spent the next four decades taking steps which gradually tied 612 00:43:58,980 --> 00:44:04,460 Roman religion not just to the city of Rome, but to a single person - 613 00:44:04,460 --> 00:44:05,540 the Emperor. 614 00:44:07,660 --> 00:44:10,660 And he did it through a vigorous programme 615 00:44:10,660 --> 00:44:13,020 of rebuilding and religious renewal. 616 00:44:14,620 --> 00:44:17,660 He reinstated ancient religious festivals, 617 00:44:17,660 --> 00:44:21,220 rebuilt crumbling temples, filled vacant priesthoods. 618 00:44:21,220 --> 00:44:27,900 He claimed he was restoring Rome's ancient past to please the gods. 619 00:44:27,900 --> 00:44:32,380 What he was really doing was making Rome his own. 620 00:44:34,900 --> 00:44:37,860 Augustus subtly co-opted new powers, 621 00:44:37,860 --> 00:44:42,460 taking on the mantle of all the major priesthoods in Rome, 622 00:44:42,460 --> 00:44:44,740 culminating in 12 BC, 623 00:44:44,740 --> 00:44:48,460 when he declared himself Pontifex Maximus. 624 00:44:49,820 --> 00:44:53,300 Five years later, he divided the city into new districts. 625 00:44:54,900 --> 00:44:57,940 And on every street corner, he built a shrine. 626 00:44:57,940 --> 00:45:00,500 In his meticulous way, 627 00:45:00,500 --> 00:45:05,340 he was altering the whole focus of Roman worship. 628 00:45:08,700 --> 00:45:12,260 Very few traces of these ancient shrines remain, 629 00:45:12,260 --> 00:45:15,100 but there's one in the Vatican Museum. 630 00:45:15,100 --> 00:45:20,060 It's tucked away from public view in the Pope's own private gallery. 631 00:45:22,700 --> 00:45:27,580 And its carvings show just how the shrewd Augustus was shifting 632 00:45:27,580 --> 00:45:30,860 the object of Roman worship from the gods 633 00:45:30,860 --> 00:45:32,940 to himself and his own family. 634 00:45:34,180 --> 00:45:36,180 SPEAKS IN ITALIAN 635 00:45:55,820 --> 00:45:58,260 So, what are the images on it? 636 00:46:16,580 --> 00:46:19,820 And Augustus's family connection to the gods 637 00:46:19,820 --> 00:46:22,980 is even more explicit in another scene. 638 00:46:42,860 --> 00:46:47,780 What did Augustus want the people who saw this shrine to believe? 639 00:47:15,540 --> 00:47:20,700 By putting images of his deified ancestors on shrines all over Rome, 640 00:47:20,700 --> 00:47:23,260 and encouraging sacrifices to them, 641 00:47:23,260 --> 00:47:26,020 Augustus was making a bold statement. 642 00:47:27,220 --> 00:47:30,420 Augustus was inviting all ordinary Romans 643 00:47:30,420 --> 00:47:34,940 to take part in the creation of a new imperial mythology. 644 00:47:34,940 --> 00:47:38,820 The city of Rome was being indelibly stamped 645 00:47:38,820 --> 00:47:42,980 with the divine claims of one family, one ruler. 646 00:47:46,540 --> 00:47:50,700 And Augustus set the tone for the emperors who came after him. 647 00:47:51,780 --> 00:47:55,620 During his life, he was the sole religious authority in Rome. 648 00:47:56,900 --> 00:48:03,340 And on his death, by vote of the Senate, he too was declared a god. 649 00:48:08,100 --> 00:48:12,780 The Forum is a living testament to Augustus's precedent. 650 00:48:12,780 --> 00:48:17,660 Temples to the deified emperors would soon dominate this sacred space. 651 00:48:20,060 --> 00:48:25,060 So here is the temple to the Emperor Antoninus Pius. 652 00:48:25,060 --> 00:48:30,220 And here, these columns were the temple to the emperors Vespasian and Titus. 653 00:48:30,220 --> 00:48:33,180 Now, Vespasian, who was a bluff soldier, 654 00:48:33,180 --> 00:48:36,100 kept a sense of humour about divinity. 655 00:48:36,100 --> 00:48:38,380 When he lay on his deathbed, he joked, 656 00:48:38,380 --> 00:48:41,420 "I think I'm about to become a god." 657 00:48:41,420 --> 00:48:45,460 But other emperors lacked his sense of detachment. 658 00:48:45,460 --> 00:48:50,900 The demented emperor Caligula cavorted as the goddess Venus 659 00:48:50,900 --> 00:48:53,900 in a gorgeous bejewelled dress. 660 00:48:53,900 --> 00:48:56,900 The emperor Hadrian took all of it a step further 661 00:48:56,900 --> 00:49:00,540 when he deified his young gay lover. 662 00:49:00,540 --> 00:49:06,780 And as for Nero, he built a 120ft statue of himself as the sun god, 663 00:49:06,780 --> 00:49:09,820 right here in the centre of Rome. 664 00:49:13,180 --> 00:49:17,620 But it was the imperial cult and its demands that provoked a minor challenge 665 00:49:17,620 --> 00:49:22,340 to Roman religion, with world-shattering consequences. 666 00:49:24,500 --> 00:49:26,700 A new generation of foreign sects 667 00:49:26,700 --> 00:49:29,820 were starting to gain popularity in the city. 668 00:49:29,820 --> 00:49:33,380 And one in particular showed resistance 669 00:49:33,380 --> 00:49:35,980 to this worship of emperors. 670 00:49:37,820 --> 00:49:40,940 That cult was, of course, Christianity. 671 00:49:40,940 --> 00:49:43,980 And 300 years after its emergence, 672 00:49:43,980 --> 00:49:47,980 it would entirely reshape the city of Rome. 673 00:49:47,980 --> 00:49:51,660 The pagan temples would be converted into churches, 674 00:49:51,660 --> 00:49:54,100 leaving the Roman gods to crumble into dust. 675 00:49:57,700 --> 00:50:01,420 But when it first arrived in Rome, in the first century AD, 676 00:50:01,420 --> 00:50:04,940 Christianity looked less like a force to be feared 677 00:50:04,940 --> 00:50:07,340 and more like a sect of cranks with peculiar 678 00:50:08,740 --> 00:50:11,380 and preposterous beliefs, worthy of mockery. 679 00:50:16,860 --> 00:50:21,020 And there's a glimpse of just how unthreatening the pagan Romans 680 00:50:21,020 --> 00:50:23,540 initially thought the Christians were 681 00:50:23,540 --> 00:50:26,460 in a rare piece of ancient graffiti, 682 00:50:26,460 --> 00:50:29,260 uncovered by archaeologists in the 19th century. 683 00:50:32,500 --> 00:50:34,220 So here it is. 684 00:50:34,220 --> 00:50:36,500 It's very small and it's very hard to see, 685 00:50:36,500 --> 00:50:39,580 and I find it absolutely fascinating. 686 00:50:39,580 --> 00:50:45,300 What we have here is a human figure being crucified on the cross. 687 00:50:45,300 --> 00:50:48,620 What's bizarre about it is that the person being crucified 688 00:50:48,620 --> 00:50:49,980 has the head of a donkey. 689 00:50:53,260 --> 00:50:57,300 There's a figure, apparently worshipping beside the cross, 690 00:50:57,300 --> 00:50:59,540 hand raised, possibly a soldier, 691 00:50:59,540 --> 00:51:05,820 and, underneath, it says, "Alexamenos worships his God." 692 00:51:05,820 --> 00:51:10,660 Now what's remarkable about this is it's the first ever 693 00:51:10,660 --> 00:51:13,420 representation of the Crucifixion in history. 694 00:51:17,420 --> 00:51:20,660 What's interesting is that it's clearly 695 00:51:20,660 --> 00:51:24,860 not by a Christian at all, but by a pagan Roman. 696 00:51:29,260 --> 00:51:33,380 The graffiti dates from between the first and third centuries AD 697 00:51:33,380 --> 00:51:36,660 and, at that time, the symbol of the cross wasn't something 698 00:51:36,660 --> 00:51:38,420 the Christians were proud of. 699 00:51:39,940 --> 00:51:44,260 Crucifixion was a shameful death - the method of execution 700 00:51:44,260 --> 00:51:47,700 for the lowest criminals, like showing someone today with 701 00:51:47,700 --> 00:51:51,100 a noose round their neck, and, in the earliest Christian art, 702 00:51:51,100 --> 00:51:58,340 the cross doesn't appear at all, so this pagan graffiti artist 703 00:51:58,340 --> 00:52:02,700 is deliberately mocking and insulting Christian worshippers. 704 00:52:02,700 --> 00:52:07,460 To show Jesus with a donkey's head is the cruellest cut of all. 705 00:52:09,820 --> 00:52:12,620 And donkey worship wasn't the only tittle-tattle 706 00:52:12,620 --> 00:52:14,740 circulating about the Christians. 707 00:52:17,060 --> 00:52:20,340 They were also rumoured to practise magic, 708 00:52:20,340 --> 00:52:23,020 indulge in ritual cannibalism and even incest. 709 00:52:25,620 --> 00:52:28,940 It was all good gossip for the Roman on the street, 710 00:52:28,940 --> 00:52:31,860 but within 200 years, rumour had turned to concern. 711 00:52:35,300 --> 00:52:39,260 As Rome's elite realised, this new sect was persistent 712 00:52:39,260 --> 00:52:41,620 and potentially dangerous. 713 00:52:41,620 --> 00:52:45,540 The Christians were well-organised, they recruited thousands 714 00:52:45,540 --> 00:52:48,900 of new followers, but, worst of all, they refused to take part 715 00:52:50,420 --> 00:52:52,420 in the Roman state religion, 716 00:52:52,420 --> 00:52:55,420 claiming that they worshipped only one God. 717 00:52:55,420 --> 00:52:58,660 They were beginning to look less like a bunch of harmless 718 00:52:58,660 --> 00:53:02,020 and superstitious eccentrics and more like a movement 719 00:53:02,020 --> 00:53:06,140 of defiant subversives who could no longer be controlled. 720 00:53:09,740 --> 00:53:12,820 The Roman elite had in the past tolerated foreign gods, 721 00:53:13,940 --> 00:53:17,820 but they were always clear that whatever people's private beliefs, 722 00:53:18,940 --> 00:53:21,500 public loyalty to Roman religion came first. 723 00:53:24,780 --> 00:53:27,300 After all, the fortunes of the city 724 00:53:27,300 --> 00:53:29,660 were at the mercy of the pagan gods - 725 00:53:29,660 --> 00:53:32,780 snub them and the consequences could be catastrophic. 726 00:53:35,660 --> 00:53:39,780 So if a group like the Christians failed to pay due respect, 727 00:53:39,780 --> 00:53:41,860 how would the gods react? 728 00:53:41,860 --> 00:53:46,060 The fate of the city and its Empire hung in the balance. 729 00:53:50,380 --> 00:53:54,220 And in the third century, it seemed as if their fears were justified. 730 00:53:56,180 --> 00:53:59,180 The Roman Empire was beset by invasion, 731 00:53:59,180 --> 00:54:01,260 civil war and economic depression. 732 00:54:02,860 --> 00:54:04,740 It was on the verge of collapse... 733 00:54:05,900 --> 00:54:08,620 ..until the reign of a new emperor - Diocletian. 734 00:54:11,740 --> 00:54:14,940 He was a superb general, who restored order by conquest, 735 00:54:16,020 --> 00:54:18,380 reform and restoration of the old gods... 736 00:54:21,660 --> 00:54:23,020 ..but one sect resisted. 737 00:54:25,180 --> 00:54:27,580 And when Diocletian's palace burned down 738 00:54:27,580 --> 00:54:30,460 and the army's sacrificial portents looked bleak, 739 00:54:31,820 --> 00:54:35,500 the Christians were blamed for failing to honour the Roman gods. 740 00:54:37,260 --> 00:54:42,940 Diocletian decided to solve the problem by force. In 304 AD, 741 00:54:42,940 --> 00:54:47,020 he ordered every citizen of the Empire to sacrifice publicly 742 00:54:47,020 --> 00:54:50,260 to the Roman gods, and if the Christians refused, 743 00:54:50,260 --> 00:54:52,020 they would be executed. 744 00:54:55,260 --> 00:54:58,940 It was a strategy designed to drive the Christians into the open. 745 00:55:00,020 --> 00:55:02,860 Yet, despite the threats, they remained defiant. 746 00:55:04,700 --> 00:55:07,340 Rome's senators were baffled. 747 00:55:07,340 --> 00:55:11,260 Why would anyone risk their lives for this upstart cult 748 00:55:11,260 --> 00:55:14,780 whose founder died a criminal's death in a Roman outpost, 749 00:55:14,780 --> 00:55:17,900 when the pagan gods had delivered the riches of Empire? 750 00:55:21,220 --> 00:55:24,180 Yet, still, pagan Romans were choosing to convert, 751 00:55:25,460 --> 00:55:28,100 and here in the suburbs of Rome, 752 00:55:28,100 --> 00:55:30,220 there's a fascinating clue as to why. 753 00:55:35,820 --> 00:55:40,260 This is the Catacomb of Priscilla where Christians were buried 754 00:55:40,260 --> 00:55:43,180 in the first centuries of the church, 755 00:55:43,180 --> 00:55:46,060 and it's one of the few places in Rome 756 00:55:46,060 --> 00:55:48,140 that they left their mark - 757 00:55:48,140 --> 00:55:50,540 the walls are covered by their paintings. 758 00:55:53,580 --> 00:55:57,140 And there's one that gives an insight into just why pagan Romans 759 00:55:58,460 --> 00:56:01,860 were choosing to face execution for this new Christian God. 760 00:56:05,820 --> 00:56:07,580 So here it is. 761 00:56:07,580 --> 00:56:12,580 This is a biblical scene from the Old Testament Book of Daniel 762 00:56:12,580 --> 00:56:16,500 and it tells the story of these three Jewish characters 763 00:56:16,500 --> 00:56:19,140 who were in exile in Babylon from Israel. 764 00:56:19,140 --> 00:56:20,900 They refused to pray 765 00:56:20,900 --> 00:56:25,780 to the image of the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar and, as a result, 766 00:56:25,780 --> 00:56:27,780 they were sentenced, as you can see, 767 00:56:27,780 --> 00:56:32,060 to die horribly in this fiery furnace. 768 00:56:33,100 --> 00:56:37,740 Parallels for Christians facing persecution in Rome were clear, 769 00:56:37,740 --> 00:56:42,180 but there's a twist to the biblical story which gives this image 770 00:56:42,180 --> 00:56:43,380 another dimension. 771 00:56:44,740 --> 00:56:48,340 What's surprising about this is that if you look closely, 772 00:56:48,340 --> 00:56:54,180 these characters are praying, but they're not burning. 773 00:56:54,180 --> 00:56:56,940 The Book of Daniel says that they were able to walk 774 00:56:56,940 --> 00:57:01,620 unscathed among the flames and emerge entirely unharmed. 775 00:57:03,500 --> 00:57:05,540 Their God had saved them. 776 00:57:05,540 --> 00:57:09,620 Now, for Christians, this had another layer of meaning. 777 00:57:09,620 --> 00:57:13,700 The Christian God would not only save Christians from persecution, 778 00:57:13,700 --> 00:57:16,900 he would also save them from death itself. 779 00:57:19,300 --> 00:57:22,500 Christianity offered eternal life. 780 00:57:25,780 --> 00:57:29,260 And this belief in eternity had huge appeal in this pagan city. 781 00:57:32,180 --> 00:57:35,020 For your average Roman, life expectancy was only 29 782 00:57:36,620 --> 00:57:38,740 and daily life was hard. 783 00:57:38,740 --> 00:57:41,020 For the poor, the slaves, 784 00:57:41,020 --> 00:57:45,260 the Pagan Romans at the bottom of the pile, this Christian idea of 785 00:57:45,260 --> 00:57:48,060 a new life after death offered hope 786 00:57:48,060 --> 00:57:50,460 amidst the grind of unrelenting poverty. 787 00:57:52,900 --> 00:57:56,340 The Roman gods may help you conquer an Empire, 788 00:57:56,340 --> 00:57:58,620 but they didn't offer immortality. 789 00:58:00,740 --> 00:58:02,060 It was a masterstroke. 790 00:58:03,340 --> 00:58:07,060 Rome's leaders might be worshipping its pantheon of pagan gods 791 00:58:07,060 --> 00:58:10,140 but some of its people were starting to look elsewhere. 792 00:58:16,620 --> 00:58:20,260 Ancient Rome has always been a symbol of secular power, 793 00:58:20,260 --> 00:58:24,580 but you can't understand the might of this city without also 794 00:58:24,580 --> 00:58:27,660 grasping the sacred beliefs of the Romans themselves. 795 00:58:30,100 --> 00:58:31,660 Right through its history, 796 00:58:31,660 --> 00:58:35,420 Rome's greatness was inextricably linked to its sacred mission. 797 00:58:38,020 --> 00:58:43,460 For its first thousand years, Rome's palaces and temples expressed 798 00:58:43,460 --> 00:58:47,580 one thing - this was a holy city, 799 00:58:47,580 --> 00:58:49,700 blessed by the gods to rule the world. 800 00:58:50,860 --> 00:58:52,420 But all that was to change. 801 00:58:53,820 --> 00:58:55,580 A new god was about to take Rome. 802 00:59:00,060 --> 00:59:03,780 Next time, Rome's transformation from pagan heartland 803 00:59:03,780 --> 00:59:05,820 to the capital of Christendom, 804 00:59:05,820 --> 00:59:08,380 as religious revolution hits the holy city.